Apple TV+ is one of the newer streaming services to hit the market, and they may not have the extensive library of others but their current line-up has amassed great talent, like with M. Night Shyamalan’s Servant.
Apple TV+’s programming has done a commendable job to skew to different genres and capture as much of general audiences as possible. That being said, their efforts in terms of content that fits the horror genre has been minimal, with Servant being the bright spot in that drought. M. Night Shyamalan has dabbled in television before with series like Wayward Pines, but Apple TV+’s Servant involves all of the director’s best sensibilities. There are a wealth of mysteries that are introduced in the very first episode and the story only continues to twist and turn as it moves forward.
Servant keeps its cast on the smaller side and focuses on Sean and Dorothy Turner (Toby Kebbell and Lauren Ambrose) and the grief that consumes them after the loss of their child, Jericho. As a coping mechanism, the family lets an enigmatic nanny, Leanne (Nell Tiger Free), into their home, but their lives soon turn upside down when their grief doll appears to turn into an actual baby. Much of the mystery of Servant surrounds Leanne’s relationship with and effect on Baby Jericho. However, a major detail about Jericho’s past has possibly been hiding in plain sight since Servant’s start.
Jericho May Have Actually Been A Fetus And Not An Infant
M. Night Shyamalan is a storyteller who's all about assumptions. It's easy to jump to the conclusion that Jericho was born because of the decked out nursery in the Turners' home, but the only real information that's provided regarding Jericho's death is when Sean tells Leanne, "We lost Jericho when he was 13 weeks. He just didn't wake up one morning." This statement could actually reveal that Jericho was never born. There are no photographs of Jericho anywhere throughout the Turner house, which doesn't seem like something a family this emotional would do, even if they're in mourning. There's never any clarification given on the specifics of Jericho's death and Sean's "didn't wake up" phrasing feels more euphemistic than literal. Furthermore, it also comes to light that Dorothy has suffered a number of miscarriages and she's preemptively given a name to each of them, so it wouldn't be out of the norm for her to do the same thing with Jericho. It's also rather damning that in Sean and Julian's examination on whether Jericho is real or not, they never discuss if he looks the same (which seems significant), but rather they just fixate on his existence.
Servant has also been very careful to not show Dorothy with Jericho in public or around other people that they know. Obviously if Dorothy was only pregnant and now had a baby then they would address that, but Servant cleverly remains cryptic on that front. Lastly, 13 weeks is also much more likely the terminology that a parent would use to refer to their gestating fetus, not their living child, not that it's impossible. The revelation that Dorothy never gave birth to Jericho and that he was just an in-progress pregnancy doesn’t radically change Servant’s story by any means. It does feel like the perfect kind of minor twist to drop in towards the end of the season right before something bigger is revealed. There is still a lot left to Servant’s first season, so hopefully more proof to either side of this argument comes to light on Apple TV+’s new series.